Historical Sketches of Statesmen Who Flourished in the Time of George III - Vol. 1

THE name which we mentioned as superior to even Lord Grenville in services to the Irish question, recalls
to mind one of the greatest men of his age -- Henry
Grattan.

It would not be easy to point out any statesman or
patriot, in any age of the world, whose fame stands
higher for his public services; nor is it possible to name
any one, the purity of whose reputation has been stained
by so few faults, and the lustre of whose renown is
dimmed by so few imperfections. From the earliest
years at which he could appear upon the political stage,
he devoted himself to state affairs. While yet in the
prime of youth, he had achieved a victory which stands
at the head of all the triumphs ever won by a patriot for
his country in modern times; he had effected an important revolution in the Government, without violence of
any kind, and had broken chains of the most degrading
kind, by which the injustice and usurpation of three centuries had bound her down. Her immediate gratitude
placed him in a situation of independence, which enabled
him to consecrate the remainder of his days to her service,
without the interruption arising from professional pursuits; and he continued to persevere in the same course
of patriotism marked by a rare union of the moderation
which springs from combined wisdom and virtue, with
the firmness and the zeal which are peculiar to genius.

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